The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to gas turbine engines and, more particularly, to bleed air and hot section component cooling air systems for gas turbine engines and methods of operating bleed air and hot section component cooling air systems.
Some gas turbine engines include an air flow path through a low pressure compressor, a high pressure compressor, a combustor, a high pressure turbine, and a low pressure turbine. Some gas turbine engines may be configured to withdraw compressed air from the high pressure compressor and provide the compressed air for use in various aircraft and/or engine systems. As used herein, compressed air taken from a compressor of a gas turbine engine may be referred to as “bleed air.”
In some gas turbine engines, the temperature of the gas stream exiting the combustor may be above about 1500 degrees C. To prevent undesired thermal effects on turbine components due to exposure to the high-temperature gas stream, some components of the turbine may be cooled. For example, bleed air may be supplied to one or more hot section components (e.g., high pressure turbine blades) for cooling. As used herein, bleed air used for hot section component cooling may be referred to as “hot section component cooling air.”
The problem: Withdrawing bleed air from a compressor of a gas turbine engine may reduce the efficiency of the gas turbine engine.